ATLANTA, July 19 Researchers at Emory University in Atlanta and deCODE Genetics in Reykjavik, Iceland, have identified a gene linked to restless legs syndrome.
RLS is a condition that produces an intense, often irresistible urge to move the legs and is a major cause of insomnia and sleep disruption to some 10 percent of the U.S. population.
The discovery provides strong new evidence that RLS is a genuine syndrome, a fact that has recently been the subject of some debate, according to lead author Dr. David Rye of the Emory University School of Medicine.
"We now have concrete evidence that RLS is an authentic disorder with recognizable features and underlying biological basis," Rye said in a statement.
The researchers report a population-attributable risk for RLS of at least 50 percent, meaning that were the gene variant not present, more than half of all RLS cases would disappear. However, the variant is very common -- nearly 65 percent of the population carries at least one copy of the variant, and two copies of the variant more than doubles one's risk of experiencing RLS, according to the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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